title: Determination of the percolation threshold in Fe/MgO magnetic granular multilayers.
abstract: The evolution of the morphology, magnetic and transport properties of Fe(t nm)/MgO(3.0 nm) multilayers with respect to the nominal metallic layer thickness was investigated. A comparison with existing experimental data on discontinuous metal-insulator multilayers, ultrathin epitaxial Fe films on MgO substrates and granular cermet films is made. It is confirmed that the deposition conditions and the material composition play a crucial role in the percolation process. Nominal thicknesses of Fe layers at which an infinite metallic cluster is formed and the conditions for continuous Fe coverage were determined. Different methods of percolation threshold detection were analysed. We show that investigation of the temperature dependence of resistance in nanostructures could lead to an overestimation of the percolation threshold value, while magnetic measurements alone could lead to its underestimation.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón, Universidad de Zaragoza-CSIC, 50009-Zaragoza, Spain. Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009-Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: García-García
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vovk
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Strichovanec
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Pardo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Magén
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Algarabel
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: De Teresa
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Morellón
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Ibarra